HAZEL GREEN, Alabama - In one of Madison County's tornado-ravaged areas Saturday, where mangled homes, tattered roofs and snapped trees still serve as undesirable mementos of March 2, there was a glimpse of hope and rebirth.

In an open field next to Flint River Baptist Church and Meridianville Middle School, hundreds of families came for what Emily Scroggins described as a dose of both fun and normalcy - an Easter egg hunt. But it wasn't just an ordinary holiday tradition involving colorful plastic eggs.

Inspired by some of Huntsville's larger surrounding cities such as Birmingham and Atlanta, Scroggins - director of children's ministries at Flint River Baptist Church - orchestrated an Easter egg drop where a helicopter carpeted the ground with 20,000 plastic eggs filled with all types of goodies for children in kindergarten through fifth grade.

"It's pretty cool," said Curtis Stolass of Meridianville, who was at the event with three of his children. "It's a great opportunity to bring people out and to be around others."

Like Stolass, many folks wanted to see how this first-time egg drop would materialize. Children lined the area patiently waiting for the signal to swarm the field once the helicopter dumped the eggs.

"We truly have a love for our community and wanted to do something different for them," said Scroggins, who found a Birmingham helicopter company and some sponsors to plan the drop. "It grew from a simple hunt to a thousand-egg drop."

Although the idea was planned before the March 2 wave of tornadoes, Scroggins said it was more important to continue and host it despite the church being closed due to water damage and roof repair.

"We wanted to thank our community for showing such huge support during the storms," said Scroggins, who also mentioned the day consisted of a traditional egg hunt for the younger children, photos with the Easter bunny, and a meet-and-greet with players from the semi-professional football team Huntsville Rockets.

Denise Burgess felt the egg drop compliments the spirit of Easter and the atmosphere of the tight-knit Hazel Green community.

"They didn't just open the event to people of this church, but the entire community," said Burgess, whose home off Narrow Lane sits a hundred yards from the path of one of the March 2 twisters. "It's amazing to see how people came together after that Friday to help one another."